Five tennis players, four from Mexico and one from Ecuador, have been suspended by the International Tennis Federation for their involvement in match-fixing organised by a Belgian-Armenian gang in 2017 and 2018.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency confirmed on Thursday a five-year suspension, starting 26 July 2024, and a $15,000-fine for Ecuadorian Iván Endara, aged 36.
Mexicans Mauricio Reséndiz Domínguez, 29, and Raúl Isaías Rosas-Zarur, 35, were also given five-year suspensions - from 15 July 2024 and 24 July 2024, respectively - and the same fine.
Ivar Aramburu Contreras, 35, was suspended for two years and two months, starting on 8 January 2024, and Aitor Aramburu Contreras, 32, was barred for one year and 10 months from 8 February 2024.
Seven Belgian players had already been suspended for two to four years: Arnaud Graisse, Arthur de Greef, Julien Dubail, Romain Barbosa, Maxime Authom, Omar Salman, and Alec Witmeur were convicted by the Oudenaarde court in June 2023.
Grigor Sargsyan, cited as the main culprit, received a five-year prison sentence. He ran an international network out of Saint-Gilles, reaping substantial profits from fixing at least 375 tennis matches.
Investigations showed that between 2014 and 2018, the gang actively bribed professional tennis players to rig match outcomes and place bets on the games.
All players admitted their involvement in the large-scale fraud.
Since the reasonable time limit was exceeded in this case, the tennis players and most other suspects, received a simple guilty verdict in court.
